dal

Forms

dāl n^[1] Most often as ġedāl, with the prefix ġe-.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *dailą (“share, part”).^[1][4] Its relatives are Old Frisian dēl, Old Saxon dēl and Old High German teil, all “part, share”;^[4][5] Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 (dails, “part, share”) has a different stem.^[5] Old English also has the masculine dǣl “part, share”, from the same root, and Holthausen refers each word to the other.^[6][3][7]

Kroonen calls the word a Germanic and Balto-Slavic isogloss, with Slavic words meaning “part”; it could in theory be derived from the root Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”), but the formation has no direct parallel.^[4] Köbler connects it with Pokorny's root *dā- “to divide”, with a question mark.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded, in its ġe- form, in the Pastoral Care of 890×897, where those who give alms are warned against seeking praise for ðæm gedale ðæs feos “for the distribution of the money”.^[9][10] Toller's Supplement quotes another manuscript with the simple dale there.^[11] The simplex is first dated in the Lindisfarne gloss of the third quarter of the tenth century: dal his settes mið legerum “will put his share with the liars” glosses Latin “partemque eius ponet cum hypocritis” (Matthew 24:51).^[12][10]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give the simplex the senses division, allotment and portion: in the prose Exodus God says ic sette dal betwyx þin folc & min folc “I will set a division between your people and mine”.^[13][10] The commoner ġedāl means division, separation and parting, above all the parting of body and soul at death, and distribution, as in hringa gedales “the giving out of rings” in Widsith.^[2] Toller's Supplement adds a share or lot, the distribution of alms, and dissolution or destruction.^[11][14] In Beowulf it is the parting from life.^[15] In charter bounds a weġġedāl is a place where a road divides.^[16]

It became Middle English dol, from both dāl and ġedāl, now English dole;^[17][18] Etymonline notes that most of the old senses have died out in English.^[18]

Timeline

• 890×897 – for ðæm gedale ðæs feos “for the distribution of the money” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[9][10]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – heora gedales wið Bryttas “their separation from the Britons” in the Old English Bede (Tanner 10).^[19][10]
• s. x² – the parting of body and soul in Genesis A (Junius 11).^[20][2]
• s. x³/⁴ – the simplex dal “share” in the Lindisfarne gloss of Matthew.^[12][10]
• s. x/xi – ġedāl “parting” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[21][15]
• c1175 – Middle English dol in the Ormulum.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. division, separation, parting.^[13][2][8]
2. the parting of soul and body, death.^[2][15]
3. distribution, sharing out, of rings or of alms.^[2][11]
4. a share, portion, lot.^[13][11]
5. dissolution, destruction.^[14][8]

Word family

• ealdorġedāl
• līfġedāl
• weġġedāl
• irfeġedāl
• tōdāl

Descendants

• Middle English dol (→ English dole)^[1]

Related words

• dǣl
• dǣlan

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 384
3. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 70
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 87
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 69
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. dǣl
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. dāl
9. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
10. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
11. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 146
12. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 291
13. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 195
14. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 311
15. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. ġe-dāl
16. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1184
17. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
18. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
19. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 531
20. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 513
21. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344